Such a Pleasant Ridge

It’s now been four weeks since we’ve been back home. Mt. Baker has even peaked out behind the clouds a few times.  It’s as if we never left, and thankfully, life on the Ridge is as peaceful as ever. 

Last school year, Kaleb’s weekly routine was insane.  There was somewhere we had to go every day.  Each morning I woke up and tried to figure out how everything was going to get done before I could sleep again that night.  Now I wake up and just lie in bed, talk to God, think a little, and eventually get up.  It’s incredible, the days are just so darn relaxing.

I’ve not signed Kaleb up for any outside activities this fall simply because we aren’t home much this school year.  Now that we’ve had a couple weeks of this slow routine under our belt, I’m thinking it was a good choice.  Kaleb is a bit lonely, however.  His only outing each week is to youth group on Wednesday nights and church on Sunday.  But he’s managed to spend extended time with at least one friend a week, so that’s helped.

Kory is loving that he’s free from schooling Kaleb right now.  Our “school year” is only about three months long so Kaleb doesn’t have much time to even do art or wood working with Kory.  The Honors Biology class Kaleb is taking from Johns Hopkins University has been sucking up about five hours a day, since it’s a one-year course he’s trying to complete in less than three months. (The photo above was from his "cell respiration" lab, testing different sweeteners for their ability to do something or another.) He whines about the class on one hand, but loves learning about DNA structure and the inner workings of cells, on the other.  He’s also playing the piano an hour a day, writing on the novel he’s working on, and doing a little math and Spanish on the side for good measure.  He’s been putting in some long school days just to keep up, but I have to remind him his school year is short and it will soon be over and we’ll be heading south in our RV for the winter.  His work load will be much lighter then.

Since we are home for such a short period of time, we’re trying to maximize our social life and make the most of our weekends.  Last weekend we had one of the pastor’s families (above) from church here for dinner.  After they left at ten, I drove Kaleb over to his friend Spencer’s house to spend the night.  Saturday morning Kory and I were up at six, driving to Renton to deliver a table and chairs to my step-mom as a house-warming gift. We had to rush from there to get Grammy J (below) and take her out to lunch for a belated birthday gift, then to the Seattle Rep to see an afternoon play.  We had to drop her off and zip home to get dinner on the table for other friend’s that were coming over that night. In between those two events I had to go feed and walk the neighbor’s dog.  I planned for all this madness, and did much work ahead of time.  By the time I walked in the door at six, dinner was cooked and on the table 20 minutes later and a cake was baking in the over for dessert.  I impressed even myself.  Then I had to go get Kaleb again at 10:30 at night.  It was one long day.

The best part about being home has been reconnecting with our Home Fellowship groups at church, which we’ve done the past two Sundays.  I lead two groups, one at our house and another at someone else’s house, since that group is so large.  I love that we all feel safe enough to share what’s really going on in our lives and how we feel about different things.  It’s so much better than pretending life is good and keeping things to ourselves.  I love our prayer team at church, too, that we make ourselves available to pray for people who are hurting.  I realize it’s not just the amount of time we spend with people that matters, it’s what we do with that time that’s so valuable.

Since I’m not teaching any classes right now and have nothing to do each week except write my column for the newspaper, I’ve found myself pacing around the house wondering how to spend my time before getting dinner ready.  I started noticing cobwebs in the corner of each room and layer upon layer of dust on shelves.  It’s been a joy to actually have time to clean all my treasures perched on the shelves, especially when I can click on Netflix and watch old TV shows while I’m doing it.  Kaleb needs help occasionally with his schoolwork, so I’m nearby, but still productive, and slowly the house is getting clean.  I’m sure by the time I’m done, it will need cleaning again, but it’s been a rare day these past few years that I’ve done any dusting.  I usually try to do it once a year, whether it needs it or not, but I haven’t always stuck to that schedule. Ha.

I wrapped birthday and Christmas presents last night, as both Kory and Kaleb are soon a year older.  I’m making Christmas a bit simpler this year.  Not much is on our calendar until we leave in January, so that’s good.  And the menu is planned and shopping list made out for next week’s festivities.  We are ready to be thankful (as we are everyday, actually) that this past year has been wonderful on so many levels and we’re grateful to God for all we’ve experienced, even every last raindrop.  Hallelujah. 

Home from Norway, via Greece

We arrived home two weeks ago.  In some ways, it feels like we never left.  Life got back into it’s familiar routine rather quickly, with Kaleb’s schoolwork taking precedent over the rest of our lives.  We are all, thankfully, over jetlag.  It took longer than usual, but we’re no worse for the wear.

It’s so good to be home.  The rain hasn’t even been depressing, as it’s something we expect and are used to living with in the Pacific Northwest.  I have so many things to do in the house, so many projects waiting to get completed, that some days I’m bummed if the sun is shining and I have to go outside.  I was raised that if it’s sunny, we are supposed to be out in it. I’ve actually been thankful for the dreary days that keep me indoors, completing my new to-do list and getting settled back in.

Our time in Greece was well spent, and much cheaper than I anticipated.  It wasn’t without a bit of concern over the infrastructure there, but in the end, we had no real problems.  All our flights between the islands were on time, and thankfully, the air traffic controllers went on strike the day BEFORE we were heading home, so we never missed a beat.  The day we arrived, there were huge riots in downtown Athens near our hotel, so the subway station was closed.  We just took the metro one stop past our stop and took a $20 cab ride back to the hotel and we were fine.  As is often the case, the news media makes things out to be much worse than they really are and life goes on as usual in most places.

The two days in Athens were all about antiquities, in museums and at the ruins.  Kaleb understands Greek mythology much better than Kory or I, so he was quite the little encyclopedia of information on all things from the past.  We toured the Acropolis (top photo), read scripture while sitting on Mars Hill (above Kaleb's hand) and took photos at the temple of Zeus (two photos above with the Acropolis in the background up on the hill).  We took a city bus tour, walked around safe neighborhoods and ate incredibly good food for very cheap.  We also enjoyed the sunny days and warm nights, sidewalk cafes and affordable souvenirs. 

We flew to the island of Rhodes, which I’ve been to before, but Kory and Kaleb had not.  It’s got a very old walled city that makes it quite unique.  We did a lot of walking, shopping, dog petting and eating.  Our hotel overlooked the ancient harbor and was the same one where I’d stayed five years ago with my friend Cathy when we took a chick trip to the Greek Islands for my 50^th birthday. 

Kory wanted to spend a day at the beach so we took the local bus an hour south to the city of Lindos.  The beach there reminds me of Hanauma Bay in Hawaii, as it’s protected so there are no waves and the water is crystal clear which makes it easy to see the fish.  Kaleb enjoyed snorkeling all day while Kory snoozed in the shade on the beach (below).  I bounced back and forth from the water to the sand and tried not to get antsy that we were spending an entire day in one location.  I’m more of multi-tasker kind of person so it was a sacrificial day for me.  Dinner beachside made it all worthwhile.

It was impossible to keep up the fat free vegan life for Kory, but he tried the best he could, just ordering salads with no dressing and vegan dishes – stuffed peppers or pasta with amazing sauces.  He cheated occasionally and ordered grilled fish.  They weren’t without oil, however, but we had to trust God no damage was being done.

After three days on Rhodes, we flew to the island of Crete (below).  Our airplane tickets were less than twenty bucks, so I didn’t complain about the fact we had to fly all the way up to the mainland of Greece and land in Thessolonika for a few hours before flying south again to Crete.  It was kinda cool to see another city and our layover was long enough we went outside the airport and walked around in the warmth of the evening.

We got into Crete after dark.  We’d rented a car for our five days there as I got it for free with points I used from my credit card.  We found a hotel near the airport and crashed for the night, as I made no reservations for the five days on Crete, wanting to get bargains as we went.  I learned this from our last trip, that the cheapest deals are in the off-season with no pre-booking.  There’s never a worry of places being full as there must be 1000 hotel beds for every local on Crete.

I’d never been to Crete before so it was my biggest thrill.  The islands each have their own distinct charm.  Since Crete used to be it’s own country, and just joined Greece 70 years ago, it’s particularly distinct.  We drove from one end of it to the other and I was so thankful Kory did all the driving.  All traffic signs are merely “suggestions” and they somehow make four lanes out of two.  I would have had a heart attack driving on the freeways, but Kory handled it like a champ and got us everywhere safely. 

On our furthest adventure west, we found a five star resort with a nice swimming pool next to the sea.  We splurged and stayed there for $85 a night.  Other places were only $40, including breakfast, so it was a real treat, as was their breakfast the next morning.  It’s incredible how cheap things are there, and it makes vacationing all the more enjoyable.  As opposed to Norway, which makes it hard to enjoy when the prices are so high.  In Crete, we ate dinner, including wine and extras for around $30 a night for all three of us.  We came home with cash we didn’t spend.  Incredible.

We had several opportunities to lie on the beach and relax, which made Kory happy.  Kaleb enjoyed skipping rocks and collecting cool ones, which made our luggage anything but “light.”  One day we took a ferry up to the island of Santorini (above) just to have a look around.  It’s the location Greece advertises the most, and it is an unusual island, since all the buildings hang off the edge of a caldera cliff.  One day was enough as it’s a small place, but a “must see” when in Greece.

Our bones got warmed, our skins got tanned, our feet got nibbled on by fish and our bellies got full of wonderfully fresh Greek food.  We so needed that time as a family and away from our usual routines, but now all we have to show for it are the thousands of photos we took, as our tans have faded fast in the Pacific Northwest autumn.  Good things there’s still a little color on the trees.  Life is good.